The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-11-17


that children are fiax-not fit for use till
they have been hetcheled and swingled.
Some one talking to a child said: 81 Won
der what makes that tree out there So
crooked" The child replied: II suppose
it was trod upon while it was young"
In some families all the discipline is con-
cenetred upon one child's head. If any
thing is done wrong, the supposition is
that George did it. He broke the latch.
He left open the gate. He hacked the
bannisteIs. He whitfield sticks on the
carpets. And George shall be the scape-
goat for all domestic misunderstanding
and suspicious. If things get wrong in
the culinary department, in comes the
mother and says, angrily: Where
is George? If business matters
are perplexing at the store, in
comes the father at night and says, an
grily: ''Where is George?" In many a
household there is such one singled out
for suspicion and castigation. All the
sweet flowers of his soul blasted under
this perpetual northeast storm, he curses
The day in which he was born. Safer
the child in an ark of bulrushes on the
Nile. among crocOdiles, than in an ele-
CANT mansion, amid such domestic gor
CONS A mother was passing along the
street one day, and came up to her little
child, who did not see her approach, and
her child was saying to her playmate:
''You good for nothing little scamp, you
come right into the house this minute or
| will heat YOU till the skin comes off. -
The mother broke in, saying: "Why,
Lizzie, I am surprised to hear you talk
like that to any one!' "Oh," said the
child, Il was only playing, and he is my
/ little boy, and | am scOlding him, as you
/ did me this morning" Children are apt
to be echoes Of their parents.
Safer in a Bethlehem manager among
cattle and camels with gentle Mary to
watch the little innocent than the most ex
| travagant nursery, over which God S star
of peace never stood. The trapper extin-
! guishes the flames on the prairie by fight
| ing fire with fire, but you cannot, with
the fire of your own disposition, put out
the fire of a child's disposition.
Yet we may rush to the other extreme
and rule children by too great leniency.
The surgeon is not unkind because, not
wthstanding the resistance of his patient,
| he goes straight on with firm hand and
unfatering heart to take off the gan
| creme. Nor is the parent less affection
ate and faithful because, notwithstanding
all violent remonstrances on the part of
the child, he with the firmest discipline
advances to the cutting off of its evil in
clinations. The Bible says: "Chasten
thy son while there is hope, and let not
thy soul spare for his crying" Childish
rage unchecked will, after q while, be-
| II.
viii grow up into misanthrOpy. Childish
rebellion will develop into the lawlessness
of riot and sedition. If you would ruin
the child, dance to his every caprice and
stuff him with confectionery. Before
YOU are aware of it that boy of 6 years
will go down the street, cigar in his
mouth and ready on any corner with his
comrades to compare pugilistic attain
ments. The parent who allows the child
to grow up without ever having learned
the great duty of obedience and submits
sion has prepared q cup of burning gall
for his own lips and appalling destruc-
ton for his descendant. Remember Ell
and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas
A second error prevalent in the train
ing of children is a laying out of theory
: and following it without arranging it tt
varieties of disposition. In every family
: you will find striking differences of tenn
permanent This child is too timid, alnC
, that too bold, and this too misery, anC
that TOO wasteful; this too inactive, ant
that too Uoisterous. Now, the farme
: who should plant cora and wheat ant
urnips in Just the same way, then pu
: chem through one hopper and grind then
n the same mill, would not be so mucl
II o fool as the parents who should al
/ ,empt to discipline and educate all thei
children in the same manner. 1t needs
l sl1illful hand to adjust these checks an
balances. The rigidity of government
5 which is necessary to hold in this impetu
Gus ne ture would utterly crush that fie1
5 lie disposition, while the gentle reproc
that would suffice for the iatter would
! when used on the former, be like al
tempting to hold a champing Bucephalu
with reins of gossamer. God gives us
r the disposition of each child hint
to how we ought to train him, and, 8
? God in the mental structure of our Chi
: dren indicates what mode of tralnln.
is the best, he also indicates II
the disposition their future occupation
7 Do not write down that child as dull be
cause it may not now be as brilliant a
your other children or as those of you
neighbor Some of the mightiest me-
l and women of the centuries had stupi
childhood. Thomas Aquinas was calle
at school 1.-The dumb OK, but afterwar
4 demonstrated his sanctifed genius an
= was called 1.-THE angel of the schools
! and ''the eagle of Brittany" Kindnes
L and patience with a child will conque
y almost anything, and they are virtues S
G Christianhke that they are inspiring t
1 look at John Wesley's kiss of a chill
s ON the pulpit stairs turned Matthias Joyc
o from profligate into a flaming evange
= The third error prevalent in the train
) ing Of children is the one sided develop
= ment of either the physical, intellectus
= or moral nature at the expense of tn
- Others. Those, for instance, greatly mis-
- take who, while they are faithful in tn
intellectual and moral culture of chi
= dren, forget the physical. The brigE
4 eyes half quenched by night study, tn
= cramped chest that comes from too niue
= bending over school desks, the weak sid
" resulting from sedentariness of habi
!, pale cheeks and the gaunt bodies of mu
- titudes of children attest that physic;
development does not always go alon
with intellectual and moral. How
70 you suppose all those treasures of know
- edge the child gets will look in shattere
u casket? And how much will you civ
. for the wealthiest cargo when it is pl
- into leaky ship? How can that brigh
=, sharp blade of child's attainments
, welded without any handler What al
= brains worth without shoulders
y carry them2 What is a child with ma!
" nificent mind but an exhausted bod,
10 Better that young man of q go fort
into the world without knowing A fro
81 4, if he have health of body and energ
~ to push his way through the world, tha
~ at 81 to enter upon active hfe his hes
q stuffed with Socrates, and Herodotu
il and Bacon, and La Place, but no phys
1 cal force to sustain him in the shock
: earthly conflicts. From this intini
+ blunder OF parents how many have con
e out in life with a genius that could ha'
Il piled Ossa upon Pelion, and mount'
Il upon them to scale the heavens, and ha'
Il laid down painting with physical exhau
e ton before mole hill. They who mig
& have thrilled senateS and marshall
c armies and startled the world with Il
o shock of theiF scientific batteries, ha
% passed their lives in picking up prescri
II tons for Indigestion. They Owned ;
l. the thundcrboIts of Jupiter, but could II
Y ,,,t N,+ &c fbai,. rocking pb1i1 IN II